It's called a Quest
by RelativeTheory
Summary: After deciding to take a few weeks of leave from SHIELD, Steve goes to Stark Tower and finds that 1) Coulson's not dead, 2) Thor's back and stuck with dragging his brother around (sometimes literally), and 3) the Avengers (with a replacement for Bruce, who opted out on this one) are going on a mission to destroy the deadliest file in the world. In other words, it's LOTR.
1. Chapter 1

**This is basically Avengers in a really loose plot of Lord of the Rings. Although it's not just the Avengers on the quest...mission...thing.**

 **Read the fanfiction, kay? ;b**

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It was a hot sunny day, the kind where you hold your breath and wait for someone to announce that spring turned to summer. But summer wasn't coming for two weeks, so Steve Rogers had to settle for spring. He sighed. It wasn't so bad being up on the hovercraft during that amount of time, and it wasn't that he disliked it, but he needed to _do_ something. Stay too long in one place, and he'd end up spending time on thoughts he'd really rather not dwell.

Which was why he had requested to take a few weeks of leave. The actual hovercraft had landed about an hour ago. He was currently waiting to be admitted out. Some people had…difficult experiances with the air pressure adjustment, and that along with security checks had been regulated over the past few months.

The woman who was scanning him barely looked up. "You can go."

"Thank you." The sound of his voice spread recognition on her face, but by the time she looked to acknowledge him, he was already long gone.

 _First stop, Stark Tower._ Steve broke into a run, cherishing the use of his legs on solid ground.

The sun was bright and heavy, and the lack of wind hardly helped. Steve was drenched before he even neared the building. He could see it, though. Stark Tower was hard to miss.

Pepper's eyes widened in shock when she saw him, then scrunched a little when she saw his state.

"Shower stalls. Eighth floor, across the hall from Weights. I'll tell Tony you're here."

Steve nodded and made his way up the stairs. He'd had bad experiances with elevators. He also knew he wouldn't find anyone on the stairs, except maybe Banner, but even then the chances were slim. Tony had added the stairs because the board of New York City had required him to build one into the structure. The only time he might use it was if a fire broke out from some experiment gone wrong.

The thudding of water eased Steve to a relaxed state, but he finished it quickly, mindful of who might be waiting for him. Tony was not exactly the most patient person in the world.

He had expected to see Banner at most, but not _everyone._ Natasha gave him a nod as he came in, then went back to watching Clint, who was restless, and wouldn't stop staring at-

Steve's mouth dried up. _Loki_. Thor was standing next to him, keeping guard.

Tony gave a mirthless grin. "Glad you could join the party, Cap."

"I don't see how this is a party." Nat's words withdrew Steve to memories of New York and all that had happened in the last few years. All that had happened _because_ of Thor's brother.

"It's not." The elevator opened and Coulson walked out, but for all the seriousness in the situation he couldn't keep a smile off his face.

Steve, on the other hand, was shocked. So was Tony. "Are you...what? Is this because of the letter I sent to Fury? Can he even _do that_? And how did you get through my door?!"

"Do what?" Coulson looked slightly amused.

"Recruit...you know, dead people. You were definitely dead."

"Well, he recruited me, but I'm definitely not dead. Any more. I'm not even sure if I was dead in the first place. That's not the point. You're probably wondering about my ex-murderer, so I'll let Thor take over this."

Thor straightened. "Of course. Father's sentenced Loki here in my care for the time being. He wishes for Loki to learn from our example as the Avengers, as well as restoring all the damage."

"In other words, wherever Thor goes, so does Loki," Coulson interjected.

"And you're not worried that he might try to…take over again?" Steve looked back and forth from Loki to Coulson. If Fury had been there, he would have given him all the money he had at that moment.

"Shield assured him with a piece of technology. My power is connected with Mjolnir, but Loki's is with his magic."

Loki's head did a two degree twist towards Thor in alarm, but Thor held him in place, pressuring his shoulders so that his arms were forced to come together.

Coulson produced a metal strip of silver about five inches long and slapped it over Loki's wrists, making him flinch, then shudder as it expanded and began to shimmer green. It used his own magic to enlarge itself, shifting around his arms until the last liquid molecules settled in place. A smooth metal band connected to intertwining laces around Loki's wrists was the finishing result. They pulsated an emerald green once and faded to grey.

Loki looked down at his fists, now handcuffed. "Lovely."

Thor burst out laughing. He clapped a hand against Loki's thin frame, making him wince. "Ah, brother, you'll get used to it in due time. After all, I thought you liked tricks!"

"I'm not your brother," muttered Loki, face turning slightly red. "How did Earth find alien technology and transfer it to their uses so fast?"

"You'll have Banner to thank for that," said Natasha. Tony started to say something, but Natasha held him off. "Yes, yes, Tony helped too." She rolled her eyes. Tony nodded.

"We pulled out all the stops on this one, so you can kiss your magic goodbye. Until we take it off, anyways, but I doubt that will be happening soon."

Loki seemed sufficiently irked. Then a realization came upon him, and his glowering expression twisted into a guarded smirk.

"By the way, where is that monster of yours?" Natasha immediately looked his way with a glare that could kill. "He's not a monster. And we decided to let him off on this one, let him relax."

"You'll find that the one we replaced Mr. Banner with on this mission is more suitable to stress."

"And who is that?" Loki's eyes flicked between Natasha and Coulson warily, slightly raising his chin.

"You'll find out soon enough." Coulson consulted his watch. "In fact, he should come through right…about…"

The stair door slammed open to no one but Wolverine himself, scowling, claws projected. Six looks of disbelief appeared in the room.

" _Wolverine?!_ " Tony exploded, "You got _Wolverine_ to replace him?!" while Clint shouted, "He doesn't even GO HERE!"

"Watch who you're speaking to," said Logan, glaring, before turning to Coulson. "You told me that I was needed for a mission, not a circus joint."

"Hey!" Natasha was now trying to calm Clint from two directions.

"Mission?" Steve was becoming more confused by the minute. Coulson cleared his throat.

"Let me explain."

* * *

 **Okay, so it wasn't just Avengers.**

 **About the wrist cuffs: Loki has a huge amount of magic. No one noes what would happen if they took it away, it's like an enormous blood loss. Loki's used it all his life. So the cuffs are attached to him, taking the magic and storing it close to him in a way that neutralizes the power instead of ripping it out of him. He has it, he just can't use it. This is also why, if any of the Avengers were to disable it, Loki could have the magic back. Technically, I think that the handcuffs in Thor 2 disabled Loki's magic (either that or he didn't use it until they were taken off) but these allow a bit more movement. They're really more like vambraces than anything in that they start with a band at the wrist and go up from there, although they aren't really great with shielding. the only handcuff part about it is probably the strip of metal that connects the bands together.**

 **Thanks for reading! Please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

"This." Coulson held up a small black stick, sharp at the edges, plastic case glinting off the lighting of Stark Tower.

Steve raised his eyebrows. "'This.'"

"You came all the way over here for a computer stick?" Tony gave Coulson an incredulous look.

"You _called_ me all the way over here for that piece of trash?" Logan gave Coulson an incredulous look.

"This contains some of the deadliest information Earth can give," Coulson stated, shaking the flash drive for emphasis. "And I want you to destroy it."

"Ah, yes, the invisible space and it's Midgard usage." Loki's arms were constricted and he was in deep agitation from it, not used to being in anything other than a bent position or one at his sides. "I thought nothing that goes on there ever comes off."

"This _is_ S.H.I.E.L.D. we're talking about."

"The internet?" Thor eyed the piece, debating on whether or not it would be less of a hassle to just smash it into little plastic fragments with his hammer. "What is it on there that is so different from other things which traverse the online plane?"

"Yeah, there's already some pretty deadly things on the intersphere. Although how Thor found out about it is a story I'd like to know." Stark went back to messing with his tech, this time giving slightly more attendance to what was going on around him. It was hard to tell whether he was actually interested and acting. "Good old Eyepatch's on board with this?" he added nonchalantly, not looking up.

"Well...no." Coulson faltered. "Once he finds out you have it or had contact with it, he's going to track you all down."

"Won't you lose your job?"

Coulson grimaced, which gave Steve the only answer he needed to know. "What goes on here is more important than my position." Coulson was trying so hard not to show he cared, but the tightness gave through. He continued, "I'll go as far as I can help with all I've got- clearance, position, intel- although that last one's classified."

"Yeah, super classified." Hawkeye rolled his eyes. "I'm assuming you can't tell us the details on this hard drive?"

"Flash drive. Flash drives are more compact." The technical geek got ahold of Coulson. "Then again, there's not much of a difference in application, but-"

"It's not that hard, Clint. You just gotta pull the right tabs." Tony snatched the drive out of Coulson's hand and reached towards his computer. "See-"

"Don't! If that information gets out, then it's over for everyone. Especially you." Tony stared at him quizzically, then towards the piece of metal in his hand. "What exactly have you got in here?"

"I already said that I can't tell you." Coulson's shoulders hunched forward.

Clint, however, was still not convinced. "Do you know what's on it, or is this some test?'

"I know enough to know it has to be destroyed. And no. It's not. But you still don't have much time. Through all the files on there, I'm fairly sure that Director Fury placed a tracker. Not in depth, but a tracker nothingless."

"And what if I say no?" Wolverine had been blending into the back of the wall, but now he came forward, arms dropping from the position across his chest. "What if I walk away and leave you all behind? I mean, it's not like it's our problem to begin with."

"Well, I suppose that _you_ could walk away. You're kind of hard to stop. But everyone in this room is of now a fugitive from S.H.I.E.L.D. and has been since I told you about the Drive. And tell me," Coulson said, staring directly at Logan now, "whether you really want to see the world crash down around you because you told the others no?" Logan's mouth twitched but he never broke his gaze, and Coulson sighed. "There's a reason why I asked. And all of you, you especially," he looked pointedly at Wolverine "consented. So pack your belongings and run, or pack your belongings and stay. We have to leave at Noon." He almost reached for the Drive, still dangling in Stark's hand, but at the last moment decided to leave him be.

"I'll see you then."

Coulson walked through the door and disappeared.

"It's a Pandora's Box," Tony said, examining the Drive. "I guess we'll see how long I can hold out." He seemed to be addressing both the group and himself.

Natasha let out a low whistle. "Now I see why Banner wasn't subjected for this. On the run is not exactly the way he goes."

"Are you kidding? Banner's always on the run!"

"Well, yeah, but not officially. Besides, I suppose the…carnage...we cause...would not be as noticeable-"

"-if he decided to relax. Yeah, the poor guy needs it." Clint hadn't moved from his guarded position since Coulson walked in. "But what made him have to choose Iron Claws? I mean, he's not even our division!"

Steve tuned out while Logan loudly defended himself and instead tried to get his thoughts in check.

Steve had understood everything. Yet he was still, in one sense, utterly confused. But he knew how situations played out. He also knew that beneath the light banter, the tension between his teammates was stretching, and if silence held too long, it would snap.

So he managed to examine his surroundings and think.

In his mind, everyone was going to go. It was the most obvious to him, aside from the plain fact that he wanted them to come, and from the urging belief that they would. Natasha could help keep Clint at bay when it came to Wolverine, and Clint could help Natasha with Stark (though he was pretty sure Natasha would be more thorough than Clint in this matter). He supposed he'd have to watch out for Loki, although Thor seemed to have a pretty good mindset and a handle on him at the moment.

Then there was the problem of who would carry the Drive. To be honest, the only ideal he could see was Tony or himself, and although he wanted to trust Stark, he saw how quickly he'd almost caused disaster under two minutes ago.

 _Then again,_ he mused, _there won't be many exports where we're going._ Stark probably knew how to take care of it better than him.

He just needed Coulson.

"Steve? Where're you going?"

"Yeah, you had the glazed donut look for a bit there." If they hadn't denied it outright, Steve would have thought Clint and Natasha were a thing. But they weren't.

Which maybe was better for _him_.

"I'm going to my room. I'll see you at Noon." Stark had been kind enough to give everyone their own place to stay if they came. Of course, some already had places to stay, like Clint, but missions held them together more than they thought and from what Steve had seen the time between their own stay and Stark's place ended up being fifty-fifty. As far as Stark was concerned, Avengers tower would be their second home.

And since Steve didn't have an official housing of his own, it was conveniently nice. He nodded at the others (Loki was currently hunched over sullenly and Wolverine was retreating to a corner of the room) and left to pack his belongings.

He doubted there was much he needed- or had, for that matter- to pack.

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 **And so it begins.**

 **Thank you all for reading! A continuant should be up hopefully soon (This chapter used to be longer) to set the Avengers (minus 1 plus 2) on their adventuring path.**

 **Smiles! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

_**"So this is what going mad feels like."**_

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Everyone had gone out to the lobby of Stark Tower. Most had bags of some sort on hand (Logan held nothing). Natasha had put on a leather jacket. Clint looked about the same from when Cap saw him before, as well as Thor and Loki. Steve himself had gotten some of the dried food strips he'd seen in the kitchen and a jacket with some type of wool material or other, both which he stored in a satchel pack that was placed inside his shield. Coulson wore shades, although he'd taken them off to address the group. "Is the object secured?"

"If by object you mean that little stick, then..." Tony pretended to search for it among his pockets before finally pulling it out with a smirk. "Don't be alarmed, the world is not yet destroyed." Coulson stared at him, expressionless. "You know, it's really hard to tell your expression with those shades on like that, but, uh, I'm going to go with it due to you being shocked still by my articulate fabulousness."

Coulson turned away from him in what might have been an air of exasperation but took off the glasses. "Is everyone ready?'

"Yes; however, you did not reveal our destination." This came from Thor.

Even with the glasses off it was hard to tell whether Coulson's expression had changed. "I'll get to that eventually."

They walked outside, being greeted by a large blue van.

"Get in." Coulson held the door open and prodded them forward one by one before slamming it shut and entering the driver's seat.

The Avengers were immersed in a worn carpet littered with newspaper scraps and coffee mugs. Three mugs, to be exact. There was a shelf attached to the wall with empty spots and boxes and numerous outlets.

"Not suspicious at all." Stark propped himself in a swivel chair that had been hiding by a darkened corner. "I love the holes in the floor where the seats got ripped out. Where did you even find this thing?"

"It's from someone I know; they let me use it as long as you don't break anything."

Coulson hit the gas with a start, unbalancing Stark and causing the chair to fall over. Coulson adjusted the front mirror to see them more easily. "Did you break something?"

"Not at all, Agent." Tony pushed the chair away as the car continued to lurch through the streets and managed to get himself upright without much loss of dignity. "Where're we headed?"

"Funny you should ask," Coulson noted. "We're going to the underground of your father's old facility."

A strange look came over Tony's face. "Did my father have something to do with this?"

"Stark's place is the best when it comes to distracting invading sensors. Especially as it's an older place. Meaning the city has built over it. We're not sure how far he extended, but it reaches quite a ways north. Possibly out of our territory. There's an opening in Canada; we'll try to exit there. Fury would have a harder time to track you."

"Canada, huh?" Logan leaned back and made himself comfortable. "I guess it wouldn't be too bad going back. Where exactly is this stick drive of yours supposed to go?"

"You mean, where it's supposed to be destroyed?" Coulson glared at the front window as he maneuvered through a back alley, trying to shave off a couple of minutes in the New York traffic. The van seemed like it belonged there. "Somewhere hot enough to burn every last metal and plastic particle, where it can never be salvaged again. Deconstruct the subatomic compounds, if possible. Obviously this is not your normal smelting. No one can trace our path."

Clint stopped whatever he was doing and gave Coulson a dubious look. "First you say SHIELD's gonna ride on our wingflaps all the way there, then you say that no one can trace us? What else do you want?"

"Just because SHIELD will be looking for you doesn't mean that they'll be able to necessarily trace your steps. Fury's probably going to set out a search squadron for the general area."

"We just need to make sure we don't get caught," Natasha summed up.

"Okay, so not as impossible as before." Clint balanced an arrow fletching by his thumb. "Nice."

"Does Canada have volcanoes?" Tony asked Logan quietly.

"You never mentioned our destination. Where is this place that we can burn it at?" Cap was trying not to show his frustration with the sincere lack of knowledge he'd been given, but Loki leaned forward now in anticipation of the question's answer, already planning some way of escape, and Coulson saw it through the mirrors.

"The metal on your arms holds your magic," Coulson reminded him. "Not sure you'd want to lose that." He braked as the van merged back into the main road and turned around fully (as much as he could) to address Steve.

"I'll tell you when we're at less supervised conditions. Until then, make yourselves comfortable. It may take a while before we're there."

"Right," Stark added dryly, spinning one of the roller chair's wheels, "at home sweet underground home."

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 **Thank you for reading! Hopefully you aren't reading this in procrastination to some school project; if you are, you might want to get back to work on that...**

 **Random Note: Thor might have smashed the drive, but given that his hammer is partly electric-bringing, and at it's least the drive might just shatter into an innumerably impossible amount of pieces to find and pick up, it would have not have been the best. Mjolnir's sonic blows also generally have huge power that may or may not destroy Stark's building and cause a collapse, which would be terrible for Stark (not the building fee, the fine of disrupting traffic).** **Thor, however, was probably not thinking about this. What most** **likely was running through his mind was how doing such an action would keep his focus off of Loki, and he couldn't afford to lose that, even with the handcuffs.**

 **Thanks for the reviews, guys! If you live in the United States of America, enjoy your Labor Day Monday off!**

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 **Quote source: Simon Tam, _Firefly_ , Episode: ' _Jaynestown_ '**


	4. Chapter 4

It was an average day for New York, which meant the traffic wasn't going to move anywhere anytime soon. The effects of careful attitudes and high-strung demeanors gave way to the looming sense of claustrophobia and restlessness. Clint was fidgeting against the wall for seemingly no reason, Tony had tried several times (and failed) to inconspicuously look for leftover coffee in the various fallen and unwashed mugs, Logan looked like…well, he looked like he wanted to stab something, but that was just Logan. Steve had originally scanned for seatbelts, but quickly realized that with the seats ripped out there was nowhere to attach the seat belts to-except for the back row. Thor and Loki were sitting there, although neither looked that comfortable. Natasha seemed the only one at peace. She rested against the car side, eyes closed but doubtless not close to sleeping. Her cold gaze slid open and stared back at him, and he held the distinct feeling of watching a snake in a basket- at some point, it would lose patience, and then, it would strike. Her eyes closed, and the feeling left...for the most part.

 _But Nat's not like that_ , his thoughts countered. _Not to us._

"Aw, man," Clint groaned. "I did it the wrong way." The back of his shirt now emitted an arrow, albeit tip up. "Nat, help me with this, would you?"

"With pleasure."

"New technique?" Steve asked. He leaned closer in his folded-legs position. There was an awkward pause that shouldn't have existed.

"Uh, yeah." Clint scratched the back of his head. "I guess it's a bit too new for me." He tried to look behind him, but Nat shooed his head back.

Steve never fully understood Clint's relationship with Nat-or rather, Clint at all. He'd tried to talk to him, ask little things, and Clint would push it away whenever it got too personal, although friendly enough beforehand. He supposed it was due to Clint's agent side. He wondered if that would happen to him if he hung around Natasha-and SHIELD, for that matter-too long.

Probably not. Unlike Natasha and Clint, he had no secrets to hide.

Steve thought about random stuff like this while Nat fixed Clint's gear and Tony sharpied his initials to the side of the car. It was hours before they actually got anywhere.

When they did, Steve had dozed off. It was Stark who woke him up. He stared up at him dubiously. "I hope you didn't add a moustache to my face while I slept." Tony grinned. "It didn't even cross my mind." He looked slightly disappointed not having thought of the idea.

Coulson got out of the car, then opened the door, letting the moon be their sole remaining light source. "Alright. Get inside, then we can talk and rest. Some of us might need to take watches."

"On to it." Steve didn't know how long he'd slept, but judging by the sky, it would be enough to last him the rest of the night if he needed to. Everything was in shades of dark crisp night, and the small estate they'd parked by seemed more haunted than hiding. It was out in the country, sole house for miles. They had traveled far upstate.

One by one the agent, Avengers, and Logan-and Loki-went inside, checking their borders warily.

"Isn't the car a giveaway?" Tony stopped at the door, the last one to come in. He looked back, gesturing. "I can't-" he stopped. The car was gone, replaced by a massive clump.

"I tarped it. It's going to be hard to find if they go looking tonight."

"One night is all we need?"

"One night's enough to leave them off our trail. If we kept on driving we'd run out of gas." Coulson paused. "If you're worried, though, I have a friend who'll pick it up. They plan to swing by once we're gone."

Tony said something. It was hard to hear. "What?"

"I said, they better come in a strawberry truck." When getting no response, Tony half-falteringly continued, although in the same tone of voice. "My dad. Liked. He liked strawberries and got them for my mom. So they should come in a strawberry truck."

Coulson looked at Tony, glasses off. "Thanks." He ushered Tony inside. "They'll come by in a nondescript white food truck. I can't tell them to change anything now."

Inside was darker. What the moon reflected through the windows only cast long spindling shadows-through doors, past corners, over furniture. Tony whistled. "We haven't come here in a long time." Coulson pulled up a rug that led to a door almost seamlessly combined with the floor. The door when opened triggered some kind of stepladder to fall in place, as they would soon find. But for now it was the darkest thing in the room, like a solid square of black.

"You want us to go down."

"You need to go down." They went down, Natasha first, and so they found the ladder. Logan went down next, then Thor, with Loki, then Steve, then Clint. Then Tony.

Coulson came down last, making sure the rug would be in place before he closed the door behind him. There was a handle on the inside, unlike the smooth space in the room that he'd had to pry open.

"There's not much here," Natasha noted when he came down. "Tony, I haven't walked that far around here, but your dad seems to have cleaned this placed up pretty well." When Tony didn't answer, Coulson told everyone to get some sleep. It was useless to try to walk around in darkness.

"Steve, there doesn't need to be a watch," he said, a few minutes later. There was slight shuffling, and Steve went to sleep. Everyone went to sleep.

Or at least, they tried. It was harder for some than others.

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 **Thank you so much for reading and the reviews. I hope you've enjoyed the story, or at least what's happened so far of it.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**"When you got lemons, you make lemonade, and when you got rice, you make rice balls!"**_

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The only way to tell that it was morning was by each person's routine habit of waking. Steve and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents woke around what they believed to be 5 a.m. and quickly roused everyone else they could find. Tony was the easiest to see- his arc reactor was about the only bright thing in the room so far- but the hardest to wake up.

Coulson stretched, squinting to make out shapes. "We're going to need to navigate our way out of here."

Tony ran a hand through his hair, combing the best he could. "I've been to this country house a couple times but I had no idea that whatever-this-is existed, so I'll be no use in leading, unless you want me as a flashlight."

The sound of Wolverine's breathing filled the room as he examined his surroundings. "Where are we headed?"

"Up north." this came from Coulson, who was also at a loss for direction, surprisingly enough.

Tony had moved on from fixing his hair to stretching his arms. "Do you think you can find a path?"

Wolverine paused. "Yeah, I suppose I could figure it out." He began off in a direction, muttering, "Watch out for the rock."

The group followed Logan as the nearly empty area became cavernous and boulder-filled, with long-lost equipment scattered in concentrated areas. All the group knew were their sleepy and protesting bones as they trekked through the darkness.

After tromping about for nearly half an hour, Wolverine managed to growl out, "Anyone else know how to navigate this one-way dump track?"

The Avengers, especially Tony (mostly Tony), did not react to this jovially.

"Wait a minute. Are you saying that we've been wandering around this whole time with a guide who's IN THE DARK?!"

Thor immediately jumped in and whacked his hammer upon the ground, causing all of the group to jump back or fall over. Which meant Wolverine fell over. "Hey, watch it, bub!"

Thor grinned triumphantly, either ignoring or unaware of Logan's outburst. "Fellow Wolf-man, I have made it brighter so that you will no longer be in the dark. Now we may continue with our journey!" Indeed, the room glowed strangely, and fogged over crystal-like structures embedded in the ceiling gave off the impression of stars. There was a small zap.

"Ouch."

"Clint!"

"I didn't know what to expect!"

"Obviously."

"My finger hurts."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "You brought this upon yourself. Deal with it."

All this occurred quietly amidst Tony and Wolverine's argument.

"Nobody's continuing the journey," Tony snapped, lashing out in his usual way. "If you noticed, Thor, 'wolf-man' here has lost the way." He glared at Logan. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Yeah." Wolverine grit his teeth, stubbornly annoyed. "Got a problem with that, bub?"

"Hey! Watch who you call names here, _bub_ , and yes, I do. You said you had us covered!"

"You're the one who should know the way, anyhow. I'm trying to pick up your pieces, and I think I'm doing an alright job of it." His face contorted. "And no one says the word 'bub' but me! Got that, bub?"

"What is this 'bub' you speak of? I enjoy its sound! I shall use it from now on! Huzzah, bub!" Loki stood in a state of depressant terminality as Thor made this proclamation.

 _I'll never hear the end of this..._

"Oh, great. Just great. Could someone pick a boulder to move past before I tear their eyeball out?"

"Natasha, cool your jets!" This brought Steve onto a whole new sense of confusion.

"Cool her jets? She's not a plane. Wait a minute..." He slammed Clint into a mountainous spire. "Are you saying she's fat?! Take it back! She's not fat!"

"I didn't say she was fat!"

 _Well,_ thought Natasha, _isn't this just swell._

In an attempt to gain everyone's attention she shot the ceiling.

The ceiling collapsed.

From each of their positions six heads turned to Natasha.

"What? We're no more stuck than we were, right?"

The only reply was from Logan, who, for some reason, was not thrilled with this turn of events.

—

"Hold down there, everyone! Can you hear me?" Coulson was trying to get some sight of the group through all the ash and dust and cigarette remains. Rocks and cement blocks were not forgotten, either.

Before long almost everyone had been found. _Almost._

"Where's Loki?"

"Ahem. I told you these handcuffs were to be proved a hindrance to one's safety."

"Brother, you are safe. Be glad I still care."

"Do you? If you did, I assure you that this would have ended differently, especially with the foolish mortal device that taints my magic."

Past this, the group had gravitated towards some light source to come across a pit filled with boulders. The other side of the pit presented what seemed to be the beginnings of a tunnel, partially lit by the outside world.

Logan looked over the cliff, trying to see some sign of a bottom. "Now what, a deadly game of hopscotch?"

A roar came from below. Thor suddenly laughed.

"Son of Coul, you DO have bilgesnipes here in Midgard! Now, TO VICTORY!"

Captain America didn't understand, and with good reason. "Are bilgesnipes new? I clearly do not remember those. Judging by those other looks, it must be some kind of super secret mutation, right?"

Coulson frowned. "Bilgesnipes are only found in Asgard. Maybe it's a man in a machine kind of thing. You all go ahead. I'll deal with this situation."

The Avengers, including a very reluctant Thor, Loki (but of course he was irked by the whole mission), and Logan, went over pit by way of boulders and waited for Coulson's response. Vibrations began to fill the ground, and boulders in the pit toppled.

Coulson stood squarely in the middle. He addressed the group.

"Go, get out of here!"

He then focused on the darkened floor beneath him, attempting to find something.

"Sir, this is S.H.I.E.L.D.. I must ask you to stop disrupting the peace and wrecking private property. I have a lethal weapon. If you choose to continue, I will have no choice but to shoot you."

Loki and Thor just stared at him.

"Please, reasoning will never work with those creatures. Believe me, I've read about them."

"Read? Brother, you do not know what you talk about! SON OF COUL, YOU CANNOT REASON WITH A BILGESNIPE!"

"Isn't that _just_ what I said?"

"It sounds better when I say it, brother."

"It's alright, boys. I've got this all under control."

Steve, Thor, and Loki were the last ones out of the cave, and late enough in leaving to see the event that followed. Coulson balanced himself while the last boulder toppled-right as a large creature with dark and gleaming teeth pitched itself over it-and Coulson tumbled.

They told the news to the others. A moment passed in silence.

"We should go." Loki's gaze was cold, but it had a distant quality to it, as if he wasn't completely paying attention to his own words. Logan added on to them.

"Yeah, I agree with him on this one. The way you said it, it sounds like he's a lost cause at this point. Staying here won't do anything to change it."

Loki snapped back to reality and his eyes grew wide with surprise. So did Steve's, filled with tears. Loki opened his mouth-

Steve got there first.

"How should you know?" The words were an underline for the emotion that ran through them, a fierce blend of grief and disgust.

Wolverine spoke unexpectedly lightly, as if he had actually thought about his words. "I may not care about the mission, but I care when someone dies. Believe me, I know...how it sounds, how I sound in this situation. And the pain. I know that no matter what happens you'll never fully revive from a pain like that." He stared at him longer, then continued with words Steve despised. "But we need to GO."

Natasha reached him cautiously. "Fury will be looking for us, Steve. We can't stay here long."

The sun rose high on sun-bleached rock. It was very nearly noon.

* * *

 **Well, that was somewhat madness.**

 **Most of this was actually some of my earliest work, back before I got an account. It may have been, as they say, slightly 'OOC' (Out Of Character). Then again, I don't think I would be able to hold to a Lotr setting without making it somewhat unbelievable. I just hope that the change in writing style wasn't too distinct.**

 **I used to think Bilgesnipes were called Biglesnipes. It's a bit more fun to say.**

 **It was brought some attention in the reviews, so this will hopefully clear things up** **: Back in Chapter One, Steve climbed 8 flights of stairs. This was to the shower facilities. He then went up to wherever the Avengers (or Tony) generally hung around at. Considering he'd just showered and was about to see someone, Steve probably used the elevator to get there-despite his pronounced dislike for them. Looking back, I understand how it sounds like Steve stayed on the Training (Weights/Showers) floor, although that train of thought would make less sense as the chapter continued. I apologize for any confusion.  
** **To Summarize: The floor Steve showered on and the floor he met Stark (and all the others) on in Chapter 1 are two separate floors.**

 **On a separate note, I've been debating as to whether I should hold to a schedule for this fanfiction, maybe roughly once every other month. That might sound really spread apart, but it's better than randomly once or twice a year.**

 **It's Mother's day (or it was...)! Show your mothers some appreciation! Also, any comment/review/opinion/feedback would be readily regarded. Thank you!**

 **Quote Source: Brock, _Pokémon_ , season 1.**


	6. Chapter 6

All held some form of sorrow for Coulson's- now second and quite unoptimistic- estrangement. The only upside they'd found in all this was a portable toilet facility just outside the cave opening, which they now lugged behind them.

"You know," Tony commented, "Coulson looked pretty dead last time."

Steve glared at him through watery eyes. "Cut it, Tony."

"C'mon, Rogers, how do we know it's not like that now? Did you see him-"

"I saw him fall."

"But did you see him die?"

The last word visibly stilled Steve, and Tony realized how harshly he'd said it.

Something in Steve's face shifted, as if-even for a moment-he contemplated, considered the idea. Then he shook it away, crestfallen. "I saw him fall."

The silence that came afterwards grew more overbearing every second it stretched. It wasn't in Tony's nature to prolong it.

"So!" He started, clearing his throat a few times, "We have come to a bit of a pitfall." Bad choice of words, but he swallowed and continued. "However, with a bit of team effort and comradery, we can all-"

 _We can all go home_ , Stark suddenly thought.

"We can all do this, uh...complete this, uh...we can make it to the end. Yeah." Not the best pep talk, but definitely Tony. "We're capable of handling this." Even as he said it, Tony felt the flash drive burning his pocket from the inside, telling him to unlock its secrets at the closest port he could. He shook the thought away. Coulson didn't sacrifice himself for nothing.

Natasha, meanwhile, pursed her lips. They never made it far enough for Coulson to tell them where they were supposed to go. The directions he'd given were vague to a fault. Then she looked up, eyes widening, and whispered.

The unease everyone felt was obvious, filling the cracks in their shaky conjoinment. There was a brief hesitation.

Everyone ran. The portable toilet facility was abandoned.

Hiding from beneath a bush (it could have been an elderberry), Natasha peered out, trying to catch a glimpse of anyone. Anything. She tensed.

Nothing.

But she knew what she'd seen. Natasha settled onto a firmer part of branches and sighed. _One word. It was just one word..._

'Fury'.

And then everyone had fled, even Loki, who was the last to leave. He had awkwardly stood in the open for a moment. He finally did take cover (Thor was halfway out of his spot to get him at that point), but the look in his eyes before he hid...Loki had been scared. The magic he so relied on didn't help him in the slightest - at least, Natasha assumed that was his intent, to use magic in some form of protection.

She hadn't failed to notice his wrists constantly twitching during the walk, either. She didn't know what it meant- for him or for all of them. The Loki she was acquainted with always had to win in some way. What had happened in that moment was the opposite.

In the space of time before she could safely mark the sky absent of carriers under cloaking spells and signal a quiet 'all-clear,' Natasha made up her mind to keep Loki under her constant surveillance.

—

Steve pulled himself up from a small rocky ledge. Watching his friends come together, he quickly resituated his shield and joined them.

"Everyone alright?"

"Uh, yeah. Except for the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. knows our location better than ourselves."

The mountainous outcrop around them eventually declined to forest that prolonged for miles. Straight beyond that, some gray area they couldn't quite make out stretched, while the right of it was filled with clumps of green.

Then in the distance lay yet another mountain, semi-sparkling in a reflection of the sunlight.

However, none of this was taken into account during that moment.

"I have a question. What WAS that thing in the sky before everyone scrambled like it was Taco Tuesday?"

"Logan-"

"Hey! Those were some mean, and I mean MEAN tacos, man. I would be scrambling."

Clint decided he would try to explain something before Logan started ranting about tacos, not so much for his own sake but more for Steve's and Nat's.

"That was a S.H.I.E.L.D. hovercraft, and it seemed like it had found out our location."

"No kidding."

"A-HEM."

"Sorry. Couldn't help it."

"Anyways, Fury's looking for us all over the place because of that hard drive we took-I guess it was real after all." He rubbed his neck, then hurriedly continued. "Anyways, we have to dispose of it before he catches up to us. I'm assuming I don't need to spell out for you what happens if we get caught?"

"Spare us the details," Tony muttered, which earned him a glare.

"That's what I thought."

—

"So, what happens if we get caught?" Logan asked. They were moving downwards- their aim was to be under the trees by nightfall, then eventually a small building Natasha had spotted on the outskirts of forest. Going down the mountainside left them more exposed, but it was less dangerous than moving blindly through the rapidly approaching night.

Going down a mountainside is harder than one would think and requires a certain amount of focus that is not generally helped by humorless banter. A perfect example of this distracting banter was given by Wolverine, who seemingly talked nonstop even if the Avengers never replied.

Stark more or less told him to put a sock in it, which caused a negative reaction on Logan's part.

"Stop it," Natasha scowled. Behind her, Thor grunted of exertion and agreement.

"It is most difficult to keep this facility upright when you argue."

Beside all this, Loki smirked. He thought _he'd_ be the one to cause trouble.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading.**

 **And to all the United States of American citizens, happy 4th of July. *fireworks***


	7. Chapter 7

**Neither Lord of the Rings or any Marvel plotlines/characters/copyrights are owned by me. Just in case you were wondering.**

 **Warnings: Cigars. Because Logan. If that's considered a warning.**

* * *

They made it to the forest by nightfall.

"Are you sure we can trust whoever's in the shack out here?" Logan had fallen back to the end of the half-line, half-clump that made up the group. Tony, near the front, decided not to face him.

"What makes you think we can't?" He rubbed his arms from the cold, then left them crossed.

"Oh, I don't know. Usually an abandoned shack in the middle of the woods doesn't have lights." Tony did a once-over, then spared a half-glance Logan's way. There was enough sign of an audience for Logan to continue.

It was, Steve, however, who spoke next. "If there's someone in there, and the slightest chance occurs that they think we're bears, we'll find another spot. If they're an ambush party, I think we've got it covered." He flexed his shoulders involuntarily, shifting the weight of his shield.

"Unless it's just a plant," Logan argued. "If those guys searching for you are as in-depth as you think they are, they couldn't have missed this house on their way out of here."

"You're with us for the ride, buddy," Clint muttered. His muttering always seemed to come out loud enough to be heard. "They'll be searching you too." He coughed, changing subjects to address Logan more directly. "They couldn't have missed the porta-potty either, and they didn't stop to snoop."

"What is that supposed to mean-"

"It means that we have no idea what they're aiming at, and this is our one shot for the night."

"We'll get barricade and shelter. Besides, if there is someone inside, we could get an alibi and location."

"That's a very optimistic view you've got there, Captain."

He heard no reply. Logan peered ahead. The 'abandoned shack' he'd thought he'd seen was much larger than any wooden shack should be. Up close, it didn't look normal.

'Now fancy that,' he thought. 'a house out of and in the middle of nowhere made to blend in from above.'

"Say," he said. "I think we've reached a big glowing building in the middle of nowhere. Seems legit."

"Logan, no!"

Too late. Logan had already gone inside, followed by Stark, who gripped his activator bracelet, then Hawkeye.

Steve was, well, beside himself in a mix of confused anger, empathetic regret, and preparation to fight.

"Whoa. Nat! You've got to see this!"

Natasha almost rolled her eyes at Hawkeye's outburst. "Clint?" No answer. "Clint!"

A faint but distinctly Clint-ish yell could be heard. Natasha rushed inside. Captain America followed reluctantly but dutifully, slinging the tricolored shield off of his back as he increased his speed. Which left Thor and Loki, and that combination is always the most disastrous.

Loki evidently knew this, and as an idea entered his mind, a small grin grew at an alarming rate on his face. Thor began to suffer worry.

"Hey Thor, I dare you to go in first."

"What?" Thor was deciding between standing watch or taking action. He was nearly going to choose the latter but for Loki's remark, which gave him concern.

Loki nudged his brother (ex-brother?). "Whoever is the least manly of us goes in first..."

In which ensued a wrestling match where they both tumbled into the building.

These are the events, once fully recalibrated, that they encountered. Clint was in the equivalent of a power interrogation.

"What happened?"

"Nothing." Which of course had to be said cheekily.

"Then what was the yell for?"

"It was the easiest way I could get you to come in. I mean, look; it worked!" An impishly traced grin clearly framed his cheeks.

Natasha punched him. Hard. Clint appeared none the more bruised.

"You pick a wrong enemy to prank, Clint."

"I know." He was obviously unaware of her anger, or he was doing this on purpose. The second thought was more likely.

Captain America, meanwhile, was standing aside, unsure if he should interfere. Logan and Tony were seemingly oblivious to all this, standing farther away. They were in the middle of their own conversation.

"I'll pay you twenty bucks."

"Only twenty? C'mon, you're the billionaire here. Make it at least fifty. And add in my cigar pack, for good measure."

"Hey, I'm the one calling the shots here, and I think you're better without them."

"You want me to do it or not? It's harder to break a cigar habit when you've been doing it for almost a century."

Logan had tried to light a cigar on a particularly bumpy route in the van, causing Steve to confiscate his 'stash' until further notice. He had recently been found trying to put matches between his teeth, which was probably more dangerous, but Steve wouldn't relent.

Stark was closer to Steve than Logan by _far_. So he was bargaining for his beloved pack with the only person in the group who he could probably get a deal of this sort from.

Aforementioned, such a conversation caught Steve's attention, although he himself was oblivious of what they were saying. He started walking over anyways. Nothing productive but trouble assumedly followed in the combined shadows of the pair. He affirmed this when they immediately stopped talking and stared at him, Logan on the offensive/wary side, Tony- who's suit was now on, but helmet open- obviously startled.

"What's going on here?" Steve's wary tone complimented his on-guard position.

"Oh, Stark's trying to get me to break some part of this shiny but totally useless wall right here."

Steve was aghast. Seeing his expression, Logan assured him,

"Don't worry, I was a lumberman at one point. Besides, I'll get him to pay me first."

For some reason, this wasn't very assuring. It didn't help that Tony was trying to hit Loki's head halfway across the room. Logan did NOT want to deal with the aftermath that would ensue if Loki found out that cigars were flammable.

Steve, however, pushed this away enough to speak on more prevalent issues.

"Logan, we're all working as a team. I can't have any reckless moves jeopardizing our mission."

Logan scowled. "I'm the only one that can heal. Ergo, I go in first. If this shack happens to be full of goodies instead of agents, that's great. Otherwise, I'll be saving all your butts."

"Maybe in the short run, but let me ask you this." The way Steve could personalize was almost astounding. The sincerity and seriousness refused to let Wolverine's eyes move away.

"If you went in here and found some agents, there would be collateral damage."

"I'll walk it off." Logan shrugged, but Steve shook his head.

"I'm not talking about that kind of damage. There's no way you'd fight quietly. Then S.H.I.E.L.D. gets our location before we can leave, and what after? Who knows how close to the area they still are? There's too much at stake to do this blindly. We need to think through our actions before busting out a few bad guys. Not everyone's an enemy."

A voice came from behind.

"Well then, this was unexpected!"

They both froze and turned towards the sound. A woman with a certain embroidered emblem on her jacket studied them all in their respective areas, her face tight with stress.

She was from S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Uh..." Logan's eyes slid towards Steve, fists already curling into fighting position.

Captain America pushed to the front, almost disbelieving. "Maria?"

"Steve!" She gave a small terse smile that lasted about a second. "Glad to see you made it safe. Do you have it?"

Steve gave her a wary look but remembered Coulson mentioning trusting her.

"I have it." Tony stepped into view with a quiet mechanical 'clink'. Maria's eyes rose. "Didn't see that coming." She looked behind him, then returned her focus on Steve, almost expectantly. "I need to speak with Coulson."

At his name Steve's eyes lowered. "I…I'm afraid that's not possible."

"Caught?"

"Missing in Action." Natasha shared a gut-wrenching smile twisted with emotions smiles shouldn't consist of.

Maria blinked, then studied the giveaway faces to make sure it was true. "Oh." She blinked again, this time with a little shake of the head. "Oh." There was a beat of silence. She gestured behind herself and began to walk away. "Come on. I'm guessing he never got to explain."

There was, in the larger and more modern-than-should-be house, a dining room table, or something close enough to resemble it.

"Take a seat. This is probably the safest place you'll find for a while." In truth, the house had been built for stealth, and intercepted many technological uses that most people seemed to rely upon.

Cap listened to all- well, most of- her talk intently (modern technology went way past his head). Taking a seat, he leaned forward with hands folded, brow creasing as he tried to focus. Tony, meanwhile, deactivated his suit and slid into the seat next door, cheek resting on his right fist as he slumped past Cap's head.

"So. How much do you know?"

Clint, opposite of Steve, rested his cheek on his _left_ fist. "We have a destructive flash drive that needs to dissolve somewhere, and S.H.I. . wants their hands on it. Badly." He pushed himself off the dependence of the table and sighed. "That's all we know. Oh! And I think we're in Canada?"

"Eh…" Maria hesitated at the last part. "Technically? There's a bit of a fuzzy line that you won't want to get into."

Clint shrugged. "Fine by me." In his opinion, the less known about his whereabouts, the more he could honestly say he didn't know when- and in his mind there would be a when- S.H.I.E.L.D. finally caught up.

The cool voice beside him picked up where he left. "Just tell us where we need to go."

Maria consented. "If you continue along the forest, you should notice it easily. Problem is, once you leave the forest, S.H.I.E.L.D. can find you. It's mostly flatland out there, from what I can tell." She pulled out a map and gestured to a small box drawn upon it. "That's you." She then trailed her finger to a white mountain. "That's where you need to go."

Loki, who had remained relatively silent to anyone but Thor in the past two days, was shocked. "Are you serious? That distance is enormous, let alone reasonable for mortals to cross unseen. Even if I cloaked you all-"

"Which you won't," Natasha interjected.

"The supplies you'd need in food and water are against your best intentions." Those calm and intelligent eyes with an undertone of surprise begged to reason with the rest of them.

Steve glanced up from the maps to Maria. "Do you have anything we can go off of, provisions?" He knew he may have been asking too much, but Maria seemed to think otherwise.

"Of course. This is a safe house, after all. But you'll need to be careful."

"Well warned." Steve nodded his gratitude. "Thank you."

"Hold on, am I the only one who's wondering how a mountain is the key to our problem?" Sprawled out, Tony now leaned back, incredulous.

Maria pursed her lips, then traced a small area on the mountain with her finger. "There should be an opening two-thirds up. You'll be seeing the insides of a semi-dormant volcano."

"That's where we drop it in."

"That's where you drop it in."

Thor was in contemplation. "Will the volcano not explode?"

Again, Maria hesitated. "There is a small chance it could erupt. I'm sorry."

"Back-up plan?" Tony knew what the answer would be- in which case, he decided to ask something else.

"What's on this file, anyways? What could possibly be so…earth-destroying?"

"Power." She studied Tony carefully. "There was a project made to build a machine. In good hands, it would be a risk. In bad hands, well…you know how it goes. And it doesn't take long for power to corrupt. S.H.I.E.L.D. thought they could keep it under wraps, but- well, Coulson detected beginnings of Hydra respawning."

Steve's fist tightened considerably.

"With the new alien technology, we can't risk anything. It has to go."

Steve shrugged almost dejectedly. "What's to stop people from building something like this all over again?"

"And why is S.H.I.E.L.D. after us if we're giving them a favor?" This was from Wolverine.

"Celadon used to be the prized glaze of Korea before its formula was lost in the 1400's. They still can't replicate it- they've gotten close, granted- but the original formula is gone. As long as they're not on the mark, we can at least prepare to defend ourselves. And S.H.I.E.L.D.," she continued, addressing Logan, "happens to be under some convoluted dealings right now. I have no idea whether they have actual instructions to take you down."

Wolverine snorted. "They certainly seem intent on trying."

Not much was added to the conversation after. It was late. Maria invited them to sleep and showed them the room with supplies.

"Take anything," she said.

Steve rolled the map into the pack nestled on the underside of his shield.

"I'll keep first watch," he said.

Nobody argued.

* * *

 **Well, most of the explaining muddle is sorted...I think.**

 **Thank you guys SO MUCH for reading this.**

 **I very much enjoy reviews. I'm not one to post reviewers' names on author's notes or things like that, but I do try to take all reviews into account-and I appreciate them immensely.**

 **If you have any questions/theories things, I can try to answer that in this strange LOTR kind of setting (Note: this is being based off of the LOTR _movies_ ). **

**Thank you again.**


	8. Chapter 8

**MY FRIENDS I AM STILL ALIVE and I'm so sorry for leaving this story update way past its due.**

 **Warning(?): There is some violence in this chapter. ** **Otherwise, enjoy!******

* * *

Steve studied possible routes through the map Maria gave him, but in the end he had to agree with what Loki said: It was impossible to go unseen.

As for food, however, Steve was delighted to find that Loki was wrong. A few weeks' worth could be stretched out between the eight of them given that they ran more often than they fought.

He refolded the map, noticing how crisp the creases were, and looked around the room. Tony was still there, to Steve's surprise. He was fingering the flash drive.

"I was just thinking." Steve waited for him to continue. He held the drive up so that Steve could see clearly. "We could use this."

"Tony," Steve warned.

Tony looked annoyed. "It's just a thought, _Captain._ "

He let the remark brush by. "Tony, you heard what was on there-"

"Look, I don't know about you but to it sounds almost spitefully contrived. I don't think that even Agent Hill knows what's going on. I dislike that lack of information." Tony now shook the flash drive so it conveyed the 'rubber pencil' effect. "If I were this worried about secrets getting leaked, I would go to the source. The person."

Steve's tone became harsh. "Hydra probably thought of that too." Tony jolted, then tucked the flash drive away.

"I'm the one who started Avengers, but you seem to be taking Initiative more seriously."

Steve either ignored or didn't recognize the joke. "If you're first Avenger, then why do I take the hardest hits?" Or he had an incredibly convincing poker face.

"The price of leadership." Tony comically shook his head.

…

Thor pulled on the edge of his cloak-jacket. Natasha had found them and said they were supposed to help with camouflage, but all it seemed to do was constrict his upper body. He wanted to give one to Loki, but the chain at his wrists made it difficult to put on. After a few attempts (and unneeded commentary from the person of interest) Thor shrugged and tied the cloak around his brother's waist.

They started out well enough, in his opinion. The only downside was the portable bathroom, which needed extra effort on Thor's part if they wanted to carry it through the forest. He wasn't exactly sure why they wanted it, except for convenience, but he eventually decided that they made a mistake somewhere and at this point their location could be easily tracked if they left it behind.

Which was really an unfortunate situation, since the bright blue plastic did nothing to blend with the trees.

"Wait." It was the Wolverine, who sharply stopped and turned past them. "I hear something. I- oh. This is bad, guys."

"Agents?" The Hawkeye scanned the trees.

"And a helicopter."

"Run," Loki hissed.

"No, there's too many to run. We either hide or fight." The Wolverine cracked his knuckles and let out his strange metal claws. "And it's pretty hard to hide."

The Captain took out his shield. "Stay in defensive until you know what you're dealing with. Assemble!"

The Wolverine as well as the Hawkeye and the Black Widow began to climb their own prospective trees. The Wolverine had to run past Thor to find a tree to climb in, and Thor heard him mutter "Does this mean I'm an Avenger?" before leaping his way through the branches.

The Captain guarded the left, which meant Thor would need to secure the right.

Thor beckoned Loki to follow him as he ran to cover that side. He twirled Mjolnir around. Its weight in his palm was a comfort.

"I would really be of more help if you loosened these shackles."

Of course. Thor didn't respond.

"Brother?"

"No."

…

Tony's plan was simple. Wait in the porta-potty until enough agents came his way, then come decked out in his suit and blast them.

He didn't expect the helicopter to get there first.

He knew something was wrong when the porta-potty shuddered. The agents were still too far away to give him any real advantage, but he decided that leaving had moved up to a top level priority. His first blast went through the door, easily. So did his second. The problem was that they didn't hit anything beyond that point.

Apparently, S.H.I.E.L.D. or whatever organization was after them had figure out how to force-field objects they wanted to transfer, and now Tony was stuck.

The drive burned in his pocket as he considered his options.

He was really, _really_ stuck.

…

Hawkeye was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. He should have been able to tell who the bad guys were.

He had to admit it was really hard to determine. Everything- how they moved, how they responded- seemed to point to actual S.H.I.E.L.D. agent fighting formation. He needed to get closer.

Or he could blow his cover and get it over with. That suited him much better.

He stood out among the trees, bow in hand. "Hail Hydra!"

All the guards stopped and looked up at him. Any S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, he figured, would shoot him right away, so he jumped from his tree and attacked.

…

Natasha watched the scene below her.

 _Thanks, Clint._

She quickly switched to Icers. As soon as her own cover blew, she'd slip into the fray. Until then, she would try to miss Clint when she shot. It wouldn't be too hard- hopefully. As long as none of his arrows collided with her bullets.

Right before she jumped, she noticed something peculiar. A floating blue box in the sky, surrounded by shimmering material.

…

Thor was pretty good at deterring agents.

Loki had a harder time. His tactic quickly became one of 'stay out of the way while Thor uses Mjolnir.' It was a pretty solid plan.

Then came a point where neither the first nor second part of that plan held any effect. While Loki was hindered physically in his ability to fight, his senses were as sharp as ever, and he perceived the rustle of high-up branches as deadly. Resultant trajectory was easy to determine. Thor.

Thor.

Thor was going to get ambushed.

"Brother, the trees!" Thor looked up, uncertain. He was focused on other things. He didn't notice.

For a moment, neither did Loki. A…was that the portable toilet? Loki wrinkled his nose. S.H.I.E.L.D. held strange taste of gaining evidence.

The gun's barrel brought instinct protection out of him. He vaulted straight over Thor and into the line of fire.

Needless to say, Thor was upset, so upset that the force of Mjolnir hitting the ground shook the sniper right out of his tree. It also forced the bullet out of Loki's wound, if not throwing his entire body against a large redwood. The wind was knocked out of him, to say the least.

"Loki."

He would survive, right? It wasn't bleeding…too badly…

"Thor." what did he want to say?

"I'm sorry."

Thor shook his head. "You shouldn't have done that."

He laughed. "I'm not sorry for _that_." Destroying New York and endangering Thor? Yes. Getting caught up in Thanos' scheme? Yes. Saving his brother? Not at all.

"You could die, Loki."

It really depended on a certain chain of events, but he wanted to make sure that if these were his last words they were going to be sincere. He could already feel the strain on his heart from the great loss of blood.

"I would be glad to die…for my king." Thor cried-laughed, a strange combination. He quickly looked around for a weapon to put in his brother's hand, but when finding none, he held it with his own.

"I think that's the last wave." The Captain's voice came faintly. Thor closed his brother's eyes and looked up. "He was unarmed."

Steve looked with slight- sadness or distaste, maybe both. "I know."

Thor looked back down at Loki's hands, shackled by thin silver. "I give you back your magic," he whispered, touching the band. It was his brother's weapon of choice, even if it wasn't considered one. Perhaps it suited him better. He watched him for a few moments more as green pulsed from his wrists to his body and faded.

Clint and Natasha stood in the background. "We can't find Tony. We think he was taken."

"With the drive?"

"With the drive."

Wolverine came in partway through this conversation, studied the scene, looked up around him.

"We can't let them take it, can we?"

"No." The word was solidary. Thor straightened. "No, we cannot. My brother will not have died in vain."

"The S.H.I.E.L.D. jet was headed east when it left." Natasha ended the sentence, looked at Clint, then added the disclaimer, "we believe," to the end of it.

Steve rubbed his chin. "Then we'll head east. And hope Tony is as determined as we are."

* * *

 **We are currently (following movie canon) nearing the end of the Fellowship of the Ring. **Thanks for reading! I hope I did Loki relative justice.****

 **Please Review! Reviews are lovely things.**


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